The infographic is the original one-page version of the framework. The eight tiles, arranged 4×2, each carrying a number, a name, and a one-line gloss. The chart did most of the early work of making the framework portable — you could pin it to a wall and the team would orient around it before anyone had read the long pieces.
The eight, with the gloss line for each, are:
- Budget — price the running, not just the building.
- Architecture — design for the second year.
- Support — who picks up at three a.m.
- Knowledge — what the tenth person needs.
- Contracts — the fine print is the operating manual.
- Process — small, rehearsed, repeatable.
- Security — separation, quietly.
- Cutover — the day the project stops and the service begins.
Pin the eight to a wall. The team orients before anyone has read the long pieces.
For the chapter-by-chapter walk-through — what each looks for, the working checklist, and the place each occupies in a typical engagement — see the method, in full.
Why eight?
Not because eight is magic. Because the categories cluster naturally there: any fewer leaves real risks unaddressed; any more starts to subdivide things that are in practice one decision. Eight is the smallest stable set that covers the lifecycle. It has held up across engagements; the names get tuned occasionally, the count doesn't.
From the original.
// Original artwork from opsasto.blog (2017-04)